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Carolyn Speakman
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NCFST Director Inducted Into the International Academy of Food Science & Technology

Chicago, Ill. – April 7, 2006

Martin Cole, Ph.D., Director of the National Center for Food Safety and Technology at the Illinois Institute of Technology has been chosen to be a Fellow of the International Academy of Food Science & Technology (IAFoST).  He will be inducted into IAFoST during the 13th World Food Congress in Nantes, France September 17-21, 2006.  New fellows will be recognized during the opening ceremony of the Congress. 

Cole has held a number of senior positions within the food industry.  Prior to taking up his current position, he was Deputy Chief Executive of Food Science Australia .  He has also been Head of Microbiology for Unilever in England and the Netherlands , as well as Group Director of Food Safety for Nabisco in the U.S.   Cole has over 10 years experience with the Codex Food Hygiene Committee where he has served on a number of different country delegations including the U.S. and Australia .  He is the chairman of the International Commission for the Microbiological Safety of Foods.

Cole is a native of the United Kingdom and received his Ph.D. in Microbiology in 1988 from the University of East Anglia, U.K.   He has presented and published over 80 papers on many aspects of food safety including predictive microbial modeling, risk assessment and novel food preservation technology.  He has also received many awards, including more recently the W.C. Frazier Memorial Lecture award from the University of Wisconsin-Madison for outstanding contributions in food microbiology and the Ivan Parkin Lecture award at the International Association of Food Protection.

The IAFoST consists of Fellows of the Academy who are distinguished food scientists and technologists, elected by their peers.  The Academy is a source of scientific personnel and information to support international activities related to food science and technology.  The Academy acts as an advisor to the International Union of Food Science & Technology (IUFoST).

The IUFoST, a country-membership organization is the only global food science and technology organization of its kind.  It is a voluntary, non-profit association of national food science organizations linking the world’s best food scientists and technologists.

The National Center for Food Safety and Technology (NCFST) is a research consortium of industry, government, and academia which addresses the food safety implications of emerging technologies in food processing and packaging. The National Center serves as a neutral ground for food safety research, education, and information exchange among food industry, government, and academic scientists. NCFST is located at Illinois Institute of Technology's Moffett Campus (near Chicago) in Summit-Argo, Illinois.

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